raj.sachdev43

We ordinarily see ourselves as separate individuals living in a vast universe. We identify ourselves with our body, mind and feelings, believing that whatever happens to them happens to our very self. But is this individual identity all that we are, or is there a deeper reality connecting us with all existence?

Consider a wave in the ocean. It has its own shape and movement, rises and falls, yet it has never been separate from the ocean. Similarly, we live as individuals, each with a distinct life, yet at a deeper level, we may be expressions of one universal consciousness. This is the Universal I—the reality that embraces all existence, beyond the limited I we associate with our individual personality.

Here lies the mystery: everything happens to the individual, yet nothing changes the essential nature of the Universal I. Our bodies feel pain, our minds experience fear, and our lives bring happiness and sorrow. These experiences are real and call for our care and response. Yet the deeper consciousness in which they arise is not itself the pain, fear or sorrow. Both truths coexist: the individual experiences life’s changing circumstances, while the Universal I remains the unchanging reality underlying them. Just as waves rise and fall while remaining part of the ocean, our individual lives unfold within a greater whole from which they have never truly been separate.

Understanding this does not mean denying our individuality, ignoring suffering or escaping responsibility. It means recognising that we are individuals in our everyday lives, yet are not ultimately separate from the whole. We continue to live, love, care and act, while learning not to let every passing experience define our entire being.

Perhaps the deepest realisation is this: I am an individual in the world, but in my deepest nature, I am not separate from the universe. The wave changes; the ocean remains.

What an awareness! 

HMELTHA